The Mystery of Christ

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The Purpose of all the Ages of Time.   Prepared, before God put His finishing touches on the cosmos, for our glory!  Containing all the treasures of experience and wisdom!  THE MYSTERY!

From Wikipedia….The term “Mystery” derives from Greek musterion, in this context meaning “secret rite or doctrine.”  An individual who followed such a “Mystery” was a mystic, “one who has been initiated;” Musterion comes from myein “to close, to shut,” a reference to secrecy (closure of “the eyes and mouth,”) or that only initiates were allowed to observe and participate in rituals.  The Mysteries were thus cults in which all religious functions were closed to the uninitiated and for which the inner-working of the cult were kept secret from the general public.

We begin in I Corinthians 2, where Paul speaks of preaching only Jesus Christ, and him crucified.  Many people go to this as a verse to live by.

I Corinthians 2:1-5  And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.  For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.  And I was with you in weakness (inability), and in fear, and in much trembling.  And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power (dunamis); That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power (dunamis) of God.

But don’t stop there!  This epistle to the Corinthians was written to the believers living in the Greek city of Corinth, where the believers were being reproved for their carnal practices….their carnal Christianity.  So to these immature believers, Paul could only preach Jesus Christ, & him crucified.  But lets take a look at the verses which follow.

Verse 6, 7.  However we speak wisdom among them that are perfect (in this context, “fully initiated”); yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nothing; But we speak the wisdom of God regarding the mystery, the (that which was) hidden, which God ordained (prepared) before the world unto our glory.

What is this wisdom?  Why was it hidden?  Whatever it is, it was prepared and  predestined before the world to bring out the best in us…and to be the best for us.  Here is why it was hidden.

Verse 8  (the mystery)…Which none of the princes of this world knew; for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 

This term “princes of this world” refers to Satan…..the devil and all his host….devil spirits as well as their workings.  (See II Corinthians 4:4, among others).
This mystery and the wisdom it contains was so fantastic, that Satan would rather have Jesus alive today on the earth !!!!  So the truth of this mystery must be greater than the effect the Son of God had when he walked the earth. And it is !!!

Jesus alluded to this very fact:

John 14:12  Of a truth, of a truth, I say unto you, He that believes on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater than these shall he do; because (when after) I go unto my Father.

Even when Paul first began ministering, after his conversion to faith in Christ, he was destined to be the minister of this mystery.  He uses the term “my gospel” often in his writings, and when he does, it is the revelation of this mystery he is talking about.

Romans 16: 25,26  Now to Him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel, and (which is) the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.  But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets (of that present day), according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations (Gentiles) for the obedience of (which is) faith.

Paul’s gospel was the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery.  He did not preach the physical Jesus who walked this earth.  He did not preach that we ought to be more like that historical Jesus, that we ought to live more like that Jesus who walked the earth.

Galatians 1:15,16a  But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by His grace, To reveal His Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen……..  

Paul’s gospel was the preaching of the Christ revealed within himself.

Colossians 1:24b-27, 2:2b, 3  ….for his (Christ’s) body’s sake, which is the church (now you know what the true church is); Of which I am made a minister, according to the administration of God which is given to me for you (see Ephesians 3:2), to fulfill the Word of God; Even the mystery, which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is being made manifest to his saints; To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you (plural), the hope of glory; Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect (fully initiated) in Christ……..unto the acknowledging (epignosko – a thorough,  intimate relational, or experiential knowing) of the mystery of God….CHRIST!  In which (the mystery…Christ in you all) are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (gnosko – relational, or experiential,  knowing).

All the treasures of wisdom and experience are hidden in the reality of this mystery.
No other Biblical writer besides Paul speaks of this Mystery, hidden throughout all ages until now.
Paul is the man !!!

Ephesians 3:1-12  For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If you have heard of the administration of the grace of God which was given to me for you; How that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery (as I wrote before in few words, Whereby, when you read, you may have my understanding regarding the mystery of Christ), Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now being revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the spirit; That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel; Of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power, Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the untrackable (because they were never spoken of, even referred to in the OT) riches of Christ; And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world has been hidden in God, who created all things (“by Jesus Christ” is not in the text); For the intended purpose that now unto the principalities and powers in the heavenlies might be known (gnosko) by the church the manifold wisdom of God, According to the purpose of the ages which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord;

Our glory, (the best we as individuals and/or as a group can ever hope to be),  is to be found in the “fellowship of the mystery” which Paul was tasked by God to make known to all the nations.  God intended this very thing from before the world was, and was the true eternal purpose of Jesus Christ, hidden from (so that it could come to pass), and now intended for,  all the ages. 

Discovering the riches of wisdom and experience of this mystery is the highest calling that does or ever will exist, for the reality of the mystery is the greatest work of God of all time.  This mystery can only be revealed by the spirit of Christ within, and happens a layer at a time, as the initiate delves deeper and deeper into the things of God.

We end where we began, in:

I Corinthians 2.9-12  But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him (because they were hidden from ages and from generations they were untrackable),   But God has revealed them unto us by His spirit; for the spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God.  For what man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?  even so the things of God knows no man, abut the spirit of God.  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

Welcome to the “cult” of the fellowship of the mystery of God……Christ in and between each one of us, and the efforts that we each make, both individually and as a group, both 1) to seek out by means of the spirit of God within (Christ in you), the riches of that Christ,  and 2) to experience the truth of those riches in our day by day lives.

PS.  This stuff is deep…..it is the deep things of God (I Corinthians 2:10).  It is revealed bit by bit to those who are committed to the search for the true riches of Christ.  Be patient…..and very excited !!   You ministers of Christ, here’s a bonus Scripture:

I Corinthians 4:1  Brethren, let a man so account of us as, of the ministers (huperetas – under-rowers – referring to the content of what we minister) of Christ, and stewards of God’s mysteries.

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Other studies that may interest you:
Aspects of the Mystery of Christ
All the Treasures of Wisdom and Experience
The Glorified Christ
In Christ – Ephesians 1-14 (part 2)